Wolcott smash, STORYTIME, polls, and 720 other words

By NED X. GRIFFEN

If you haven't seen Wolcott play since last year, then, boy, are you in for a surprise.

The Eagles were a finesse team that was a bit on the small side last year. They looked to spread teams out in order to get their players in space.

This season, Wolcott can pound the ball right at opponents because it's bigger and stronger.

"I'm glad you're saying that because I still think we're small," Eagles coach Jason Pace told reporters after his team hammered Woodland of Beacon Falls Saturday, 54-12. "Our guys really bought into the weight room this offseason, and they continue to get better.

"I still think we're among the smaller teams in the NVL, but we try to use that to our advantage. We try to employ and offense and defense that utilizes our strengths."

The win earned Wolcott (8-1) a berth in the CIAC Class M playoffs. It is the second year in a row it has qualified, and for just the second time in program history.

"Every day at 7 p.m. o'clock in the morning in the summer we were lifting," Nicol said. "We knew we had one of the smaller offensive lines last year. We were one of the smaller teams. We knew we had to get bigger and stronger and faster. And that's what we put our offseason into."

Nicol also completed 8 of 11 passes for 120 yards and four touchdowns.

The game was expected to be a battle between two of the NVL's top teams. Woodland (6-2) had already clinched the Copper Division and will play unbeaten Brass champion Ansonia for the league title Thursday.

The Hawks averaged 45 points through seven games and were led by quarterback Tanner Kingsley. Kingsley had thrown for 502 yards and eight touchdowns in a 56-30 win over Naugatuck on Oct. 26. It was the second-most touchdowns thrown in a game in state high school history.

Kingsley completed 22 of 32 passes for 162 yards against Wolcott with two touchdowns and three interceptions. That was as many picks as he had thrown all season. He was also sacked three times.

"Coach set up a different defense that just had five in the box," senior linebacker James Nelson said. "Have everyone (else) drop back and cover."

Pace said, "We knew how tough their offense was to defend. What we did was we just tried to mix things up. At times we sent pressure. At times, we dropped into some coverage. We changed our coverages our every play. We tried to just make him uncomfortable as far as his reads and also get some pressure on him."

KNOW THIS: The Wreckers led Fairfield Warde by 49 points at halftime in Saturday's 49-20 win. "They might be the best team I've seen since I've been in the league for 14 years," Warde head coach Duncan DellaVolpe told the Westport News. NEXT: vs. Westhill, Thursday, 5 p.m.

KNOW THIS: The Falcons had a 301-to-8 edge in yardage in the first half of Monday's 42-7 rout of then No. 8 West Haven. NEXT: vs. Middletown, Nov. 22, 7 p.m.

7. Greenwich 7-0 242 7

KNOW THIS: Dear FCIAC — if the Cardinals' Thanksgiving Day game against Staples is for the league title, then please move it to that evening so that we can all see it. Okay? Thanks. NEXT: vs. Danbury, Friday, 7 p.m.